A - Poured a dark and clear brown. When I say clean, I mean held up to a light you can barely see through it but no sign of haze. One finger tan head that faded to a covering as I drank. A little lacing.

S - Nice malt smell but it is kind of faint and that was about all I got from it. Some very faint roasted notes.

T - Smooth flavor, some caramel sweetness to the malt. A little mocha type flavor from the roasted malts, little coffee and little chocolate. Not much alcohol warmth which I expect from an almost 10% beer. Like the smell, fairly one dimensional.

M - Seemed a little over attenuated, a little thin for a doppelbock.

D - Pretty damn drinkable, not sure if this is good or bad. I expect a doppelbock to complex and challenge the drinker to notice all the subtle flavors, smells, and mouthfeel. This beer just kind of goes down and you don't think about it.

Note: A little surprised that they spell it dopplebock on the label of the beer. Either call it a double bock or a doppelbock.

Edit: Lowered the taste and mouthfeel scores a half point. I had a few more of these and it is just too thin. The taste is not bad but lacking anything special. I am also going to say this is not a 9.5% beer. Maybe it was just the batch I had but I have had enough strong beer to know what it should taste and feel like and this just doesn't have it. I wold be surprised if it was over 8%. (1,393 characters)

Bottled January 2011In a pilsner glass the beer was a very dark brown with some red highlights. A medium-sized tan head with a little bit of lace.Average aroma. Caramel malt, something sweet.A little more depth in the taste. Caramel/toffee. Some dark fruit. Maybe a hint of chocolate.Mouthfeel rather on the tepid side.OK beer, not exactly what I'm looking for in a doppelbock. (382 characters)

Twelve ounce bottle is a gusher, pouring a dark mahogany body with an immense tan head that overflows the glass. Ouch! Lots of clumpy lacing.

Aroma of molasses, brown sugar, spicy hops, and red apples.

Mouthfeel is thin for style and overcarbonated.

Taste has a malty dominence, with caramel, brown sugar, and toffee notes. A note of red apples adds a sourness that seems out of place. Spicy hop bitterness is present but subtle. Alcohol is hidden very well.

Don't know about this one. Nicely drinkable but has some serious flaws. (535 characters)

12 ouncer w/o freshness/bottling information. Pours dark amber, under a short lived capand then leaves minor lacing. Lots of malty caramel in the nose. Malt bomb. Boozy w/ notes of more caramel, light cola and burnt sugars. Quite dry in the finish and on the tongue after the swallow. Eh, nothing special, but not terrible for those of us who enjoy a malty, sweeter brew (370 characters)

Voodoovator opens rich and malty, the initial aromas bearing a marked resemblance to marble rye bread and thick, floury, rising wheat dough, as well as milk chocolate. Beneath these rest a heavy dose of sugars, with brown sugars, molasses, caramel, and vanilla predominating. Finally, a layer of thin ash and tobacco rests just at the bottom, providing an earthy base. As a whole, the aromas are delicious and inviting, begging to be tasted, and simultaneously potent and nuanced; there's not much else I'd want from this nose, except for perhaps more power (this coming from an Imperial beer lover, so take your grain of salt).

On the tongue, the beer opens with the darker of these flavors, the ash and tobacco coming through immediately, mixed with toast crust. These are quickly joined by vanillas and brown sugars, as well as caramels. Darker fruit esters such as fig and plum are also present. The grain flavors are more dominant here than the nose hinted at, joined by toasted nuts, and somewhat overpower the sugars. This shows up especially in subsequent sips, for the potency of the sugars in the initial taste doesn't repeat itself by the second or third mouthful, leaving the beer with a kola nut-like overtone. The aftertaste is a fast-fading remnant of the grain notes, with small touches of sugar. Mouthfeel is medium, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, while I was excited by the aromas in this brew, the flavors didn't quite match up the promise, and I was especially disappointed in how fast the flavors faded with multiple sips. The beer is not bad by any means; in fact, even after a few sips there are still enough flavors standing out to make me continue drinking, but I wanted a bit more out of this one. (1,730 characters)

Pours dark mahogany color with a caramel glow near the bottoms. The beige head is bubbles up to four-fingers, then congeals into a nice pillowy cap--plenty thick wisps of lacing are left behind.

The aroma is dominated primarily by caramel, along with some malt and molasses. It is pretty sweet, dominated by a dark-fruit, almost cherry characteristic. There's really not much going on apart from this, except for a mild alcoholic burn on the finish. It seems to be lacking the weight that a doppel should have. It mainly a sugary, syrupy front, with no complexity or anchor on the finish. Not very impressed. (609 characters)

Taste: Like the aroma indicates, a roasty and sweet taste driven by dark malts. Roasted malts with a taste of dark bread, toast, caramel, toffee, chocolate, and coffee. Also some brown sugar and a rye like spice. Big undertones of dark fruits including raisins, plum, fig, and a little dark cherry. Some earthy hops add a little balancing bitterness. Very roasty and bready taste.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Creamy and smooth. Has a fairly drying finish.

I remember trying to figure out why this beer was a couple dollars more than the rest of the Fathead's take out selection and always had a hard time figuring out why. After trying it out besides the higher alcohol I'm not sure why the price mark up happened but this brew appears a very dark ruby brown tone with alarge tan head formin thick and leaves behind even streaks of lacing. Aroma has a roasty cocoa powder, a bit muted or even dumbed down with mild fruit raisin and other dried fruits soaked in alcohol with a minimal herbal hop nose. Flavor is sweet and roasty in the malt department provides some cocoa powder and mild fruitiness the alcohol is actually hidden pretty well in the taste with a touch of caramel, but overall I'm not getting a real authentic doppelbock feel. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a harsher kinda abrasive carbonation touch of a sticky texture that tends to cling onto the palate. Drinkability is decent but I'm overall underimpressed and another factor in this beer is the need to watchout for the hidden alcohol. (1,050 characters)

(served in an American pint glass) A- this beer pours a jet black body with a thin light tan head that stick to the glass. S- this beer has a clean soft dark malt note with a roasted black hint that comes thru as the beer warms. T- This beer has a bright apple flavor with a light chemical dark malt hint. Light roasted bitter hint with a tartness. M- This beer has a light mouthfeel with a big fizz finish and no alcohol heat. D- This beer has a smooth light flavor but a bit thin. The apple flavor grows and covers all other flavor. (539 characters)

A- Very dark brown almost black with a small 1 ring lacing head.S- Very sweet brown sugar, raisins, and toffee malt.T- Very sweet and malty up front with a light fruity cola corn syrupy body and finish.M- Sweet and slightly cloying, finishes off a bit flat and syrupy.

Overall- Starts off nicely but slowly fizzles out near the end. Regardless give it a try. My 1st from Atwater and decent enough. (423 characters)

Appearance: Fairly dark with deep amber coming through with any penetrating light. Off-white soapy and bubbly head initially that fades quickly with minimal lacing left.

Smell: Initial sourness, mild fruit and hints of sweeter malt flavors, but it's really hard to discern anything -- either right out of the fridge or long after it warms.

Taste: Malt flavors with mild sourness, some woodiness, maple, very mild roasted malts, and not really any hints of alcohol. Still, give me flavor with an alcohol burn. Everything's so muted, or there was so much put into it, that it's a mild mess of not much at all.

Mouthfeel: Too tingly and slick with way too much carbonation, which certainly isn't right for this style, or letting any flavors come through.

Drinkability: Easy to drink, with no hints of the 9.5% ABV, but still, a fairly flavorless brew. Had someone given me a few chances to name the style blind, I may have said: Stout, Porter, or ESB, maybe some others. But Doppelbock? No way. Glad I didn't buy a 4-pack and only got a bottle. (1,083 characters)

Very healthy "zisss!" upon opening the cap, and no wonder, as this almost gushed on me. Caught it in time and receive a nice two-finger head of light tan. Color is a ruby-infused dark brown. Attractive sheets of lace.

Big mineral/metal presence in the nose, and some dark fruit (plum, grape) trying to shove through. Hops are breezy and the yeast is also present. Reminds more of a few Belgian stouts I've had than any doppelbock. Somehow it feels all wrong, and I'm not entirely psyched...at least not with the aroma...

This doesn't taste much like a doppelbock...or anything else for that matter. At least, not anything I'd want to revisit. It's predominantly metallic, like sucking on a wet aluminum can, with a vinous quality that can't save it. An extremely weak malt presence, covered up by tart fruit (esp. sour green apple) and sheet metal. Where is that sweet malt promised on the label? The alcohol is repressed, which, at this point, I'm not sure is a good or bad thing. Tart finish, like Sweet Tarts candy, with more aluminum siding spoiling the experience. Extremely dry.

Mouthfeel is pretty good...lightly puckery, with just the right amount of carbonation and slickness. But, who cares at this point, right?

Not good. When I picked this up I thought "hmm, never even heard of Atwater Block Brewery." Guess I know why. With Founders and Bell's in their backyard, they don't stand a chance with a beer like this. I would, however, try some of their other stuff in hopes they can do better. (1,506 characters)